1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a catalyst for removing nitrogen oxides from a combustion exhaust gas (such as the one from a sintering machine). More particularly, the present invention relates to a catalyst for removing nitrogen oxides from a combustion exhaust gas by reduction or decomposition. (The catalyst promotes reduction by a reducing agent which is originally present in an exhaust gas or is added to an exhaust gas afterward. The catalyst also performs catalytic decomposition by itself.) The present invention also relates to a process for removing nitrogen oxides from an exhaust gas by the aid of said catalyst.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the most important problems associated with air pollution is the removal of nitrogen oxides.
There are several means to remove nitrogen oxides from exhaust gases. They are broadly classified as (1) denitration by catalytic reduction, (2) denitration by catalytic decomposition, (3) denitration without catalysts, and (4) denitration by electron beam irradiation. The first two are generally preferred because of low operation cost and high performance.
Exhaust gas from a sintering machine needs the reduction of nitrogen oxides. This object is usually achieved by denitration with a special equipment attached to the sintering machine. Other means to this end include "exhaust gas recycling" to control fuel combustion (as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 70008/1978) and "multi-stage charging" (as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 80202/1979). These technologies have the disadvantage of requiring an additional equipment for denitration, exhaust gas recycling, or multi-stage charging. On the other hand, an attempt has been made to carry out denitration by mixing an exhaust gas with a substance, such as an ammonium compound, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 82304/1979. This attempt, however, is not successful because of the possibility of ammonia leaking from the system to cause another environmental pollution and the difficulties of process control. Now, the "scale charging process" as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 53704/1977" is attracting attention from the standpoint of environmental safety and high denitrating performance. To improve this technology, the present inventors paid their attention to denitration with a catalyst.